Tummy time

Look who's getting a little better about tummy time! It's short lived, but at least it's happening now.

Photographer in the making

As I peeked out of the kitchen, I saw Tyler pretending to take Kinley's picture with the tripod. It was so cute how he had it set up and positioned just right. After I snapped this picture, he got frustrated with me because HE was taking the pictures and he didn't want to be in them. haha! I actually gave him a little lesson in using my camera (the real thing!) and he went to town taking some pictures of me. I'll just keep those silly ones to myself! Here are a few that he took of Kinley and I. Pretty good, huh? Sure, I cropped them and rotated them a little, but I'm impressed we are even in the frame!








And since we had the tripod out, I talked him into a group shot. I need more pictures of me and my babies!

Sugar and Spice

Day at the lake

As I was downloading the pictures of Kinley in the jump-a-roo from my point and shoot camera that I rarely ever use, I came across these pictures that Travis took of Tyler down at Travis' best friend, Cullen's lake. They are from a few months ago and before it got ridiculously hot out. Tyler is always talking about fishing at Cullen's lake now (he even pretends to be fishing at Cullen's lake in our living room!) and I'm sure it warms Travis' heart to know that his little boy has such an interest in fishing. I see many fishing trips in store for these boys over the years. :-)







Cullen and his sweet boy, Cade.




Tyler and Cade were apparently making a camp fire. Super sweet.

Jump-a-roo

Can we say happy girl?! She loves the jump-a-roo! :-)






(You've been warned... you may experience some motion sickness (and smiles!) while watching this video!)

Kinley is 5 months old

Little Miss Kinley is now five months old! She's starting out this month cranky and uncomfortable as her first tooth comes in. Yes, you read right... her first tooth (on the bottom left)!!! I thought for a second that I felt something this past Friday when she was being extra cranky, but we could clearly feel it and see it on Saturday. Tyler didn't sprout his first pearly white until he was almost nine months old and although I remember it being very difficult (that poor kid had four teeth coming in at once!), he had such better control of his teething toys and it was easy to give him a teething biscuit and call it good. I feel like Kinley is just still so small and wasn't expecting this for several more months. I'm going to miss her big, beautiful gummy smile. Boohoo. We've been giving her Tylenol and trying to offer teething toys, but she's mostly interested in chewing on my finger and nursing for comfort right now. (sigh)

She's had oatmeal and we just tried apples over the weekend, both of which she enjoyed. I think she's definitely excited to start having more solid food since she's starting to reach out for anything that I'm eating or drinking. I'll give her sips of my water when she tries to grab for my glass and she really loves that. We kinda joke that paper towels are her crack and she goes slightly insane to try and grab a paper towel out of our hands to shove in her mouth. Taking it away and offering a washcloth or something else just doesn't cut it. She wants that paper towel!

She's still doing pretty decent at night (or at least what I consider decent). Going down for the count around 10:30ish and waking somewhere between 2-3:00am (the initial long stretch) and then she normally wakes a couple more times before we finally get up around 8:00am. Her nap times have been more unpredictable during the day, which has made it harder to get work done during the week, so we decided to do a nanny share with our good friend, Dana. Dana found a great girl, Erin, that all the kids seem to really like. Dana has Erin M-Th and we will have her on Fridays. This past Friday was her first day at our house and I could hear Tyler having a great time with her! Since Kinley was unknowingly teething and being very fussy, I had to tend to her a little more than I expected, however, that's why I love the idea of having someone come to our house with me here as opposed to sending the kids off somewhere. I can still be available if I'm needed. [insert control freak here]

Other than that, Kinley is doing great. Aside from teething fussiness, she's still a pretty happy baby. She thinks her big brother is the best/funniest thing she's ever seen! I'm still waiting/hoping for the day when the feeling is mutual. She's still struggling with tummy time and I feel like it will be forever before she's able to sit unassisted, but she does so well in the exersaucer and the jump-a-roo that we just pulled out of the attic, so I'm not too worried about her physical capabilities. :-) She is constantly laughing out loud and I swear, she just becomes more precious with each day. We're definitely loving on her!





Okay, tell me you see it! This girl has attitude written all over her little face. She's like, "Yeah, I know I'm cute! So what?"

Tyler's first dentist appointment

Tyler had his first dentist appointment last week and it was seriously the funniest thing. Nothing like I expected. Travis and I had mentioned random things about 'the dentist' to Tyler many times over the last several months and even though Tyler had no idea what the dentist was, he would get upset and wanted nothing to do with going there... EVER. I honestly didn't even think we would make the appointment, but I wanted to at least try. Boy did he have us fooled! He eagerly got ready for his appointment that morning, walked right in the office, followed the hygienist to his room, climbed up on the chair and immediately took his shoes off so that he would "be comfortable." The hygienist and I laughed and laughed about that! It was so much better in person, but it still makes me laugh thinking about it! He was so good while the hygienist cleaned his teeth and loved that water suction thing. At one point she asked him if he brushes his teeth. He said yes. She asked for how long and he said "like 20 minutes." She said that was the best answer anyone had ever given. :-) Once she was done with the cleaning, she said she was going to get the doctor and Tyler was pretty adamant about not wanting another doctor because he liked her (haha), but he was completely fine when Dr. Matt came in. As the doctor was looking at his teeth, Tyler kept interrupting him and asking him questions about his tools and when he was going to use a different one. He kept exaggerating about how he always brushes his teeth. He had Dr. Matt chuckling pretty good as well. And after it was all said and done, Tyler received a great report of no cavities. Yeah! He then asked the doctor if he could "get a lollipop now." YIKES! With shame on my face, we left the office and I had to explain to Tyler that we don't ask the (dentist) for candy. haha! Of course, I took him to get an Ice-e for doing so great. Whatever!

These aren't good quality at all- pictures of my pictures on my phone (I've never figured out how to download those things), but I had to share. This definitely is not the face of someone who is afraid of the dentist office! Who would have guessed?!?

Yummm..

She wasn't quite sure what to think about eating oatmeal for the first time yesterday, but as you can see, she ended up enjoying it and actually finished off all of it. :-)













However, she says that this is still where it's at! (Thanks Poppa & Peggy for the fun onesie!!)

Nighttime Fun

This stinkin' heat is just too much! I feel bad for Tyler because he asks everyday if he can go to the park, but 105 degree temperatures usually keep us in and playing outside after the sun goes down.

High stepper...

She can point those toes straight up in the air. Perhaps a potential high stepper? Guess we shall see. :-)

Day at the pool

I figured we wouldn't be spending a lot of time at the pool this summer because it would be too difficult trying to manage Tyler and Kinley, but to my surprise, we've spent more time there this summer than we ever have. We've been going at least twice a week! We got Tyler this Puddle Jumper life device and it's perfect!! I don't worry about him at all and that's saying A LOT (since I'm overly paranoid around the water). We bring Kinley's bouncer with us and she plays in the shade, giving us time to swim a little and then we'll bring her in with us. It's been a lot of fun and about the only thing we can stand to do outdoors these days!

(These first two make me laugh- I'm not sure which one I like better)